Information & Ethics Committee on Nov. 3rd, 2020

[Brenda Shanahan, Liberal, Châteauguay—Lacolle, QC]

And while I have you, Chair, could you just clarify the speaking order because, of course, there are people in the room and so on.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Sweet]

Yes, I was going to do that once we changed the speakers, but I can do it now.

Once Mr. Sorbara has finished his intervention, it will be Mr. Dong, Madame Gaudreau, Mr. Warkentin, you, Mr. Barrett, and Mr. Drouin.

[Brenda Shanahan, Liberal, Châteauguay—Lacolle, QC]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Sweet]

Mr. Sorbara, are you still there?

[Francesco Sorbara, Liberal, Vaughan—Woodbridge, ON]

Yes I am, sir. You'll have to excuse me, my lovely and intelligent wife has just come to pick up our daughter, so I just had to say good evening and good night to them, of course.

Mr. Barrett, I do have about another 20 pages to get through, so I'm sure you'll have some patience there for my comments with regard to the motion and everything and so forth.

Let's talk about about FTI ventilators for Canadians.

[Michael Barrett, Conservative, Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes, ON]

I have a point of order, Chair.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Sweet]

Yes, Mr. Barrett, on a point of order.

[Michael Barrett, Conservative, Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes, ON]

Mr. Sorbara just asked if I would be patient with his getting through this. I've yet to interject on his off-topic and flighty ongoing filibuster, and we know that we've already heard from his colleagues on the same documents that he's reading and—

[Francis Drouin, Liberal, Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON]

I'm sorry, Mr. Chair, that's not a point of order.

[Michael Barrett, Conservative, Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes, ON]

—that he believes them to be sacred like the blacked out WE documents. We know that for this Liberal government, corruption is sacred, but we've been at this for another hour and fifteen minutes. We're nearing 20 hours into their filibuster. The points they raise don't further their argument, Chair. We have—

[Francis Drouin, Liberal, Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON]

Mr. Chair, that's not a point of order. I would ask you that you kindly intervene. When a point of order is raised or clear clarifications are made when a point of order is raised, that's not a point of order. That's a matter of debate. I know the member is taking a cue from the member from Carleton, but I would tell him that this Parliament has traditions and rules in place, and this is not a point of order.

[Charlie Angus, NDP, Timmins—James Bay, ON]

Sorry, Chair. This member is not a member of our committee and he's speaking over another member. At least let the original member speak.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Sweet]

Thank you very much, Mr. Angus. I was about to intervene.

Mr. Drouin, it has been the practice of this committee for all members, Liberal, Conservative, Bloc, NDP, and anybody else who's visiting and who has the right to intervene that I allow them to finish their point before I rule on whether it's a point of order. Should I change that, it would mean that I would do the same for your members.

I'm going to be consistent and allow people to make their point, as long as they don't carry on for a large portion of the meeting. Then I will rule on the fact, and I have ruled a couple of times today and just told the speaker to go on as they were. So thank you for that.

Each committee has its own culture and tradition and that's the one here.

Mr. Barrett, do you have some more concise comments to complete your point?

[Michael Barrett, Conservative, Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes, ON]

Chair, I'll conclude by saying that while the member Mr. Drouin is very eager to point out procedure and offer tips to the chair, he'd be well served to offer those to his colleagues and perhaps remind them of the point of relevance in debate, and once that's done I'm sure that we can move past the cover-up and on to truth for Canadians.

Thank you, Chair.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Sweet]

Thank you, Mr. Barrett.

I know, colleagues, there have been many hours that might test our ability to be patient with one another, but I'd encourage you to do that.

Mr. Sorbara, it's back to you now.

[Francesco Sorbara, Liberal, Vaughan—Woodbridge, ON]

Thank you, Chair, and on to the matters at hand.

I believe, Chair, we are going through the committee's business right now; we are speaking to a motion that was put forward by MP Angus. The amendment by Mr. Fergus was passed and approved by the committee, and then another amendment by Madame Gaudreau was passed by the committee.

Within that motion there is a section with regard to the Baylis Medical Company, and I am speaking to that company and that part of the motion at hand. I will continue along that part. It is on topic, it is relevant and I do wish to have it on the record. If at any time it is not, then please let me know, but at the same time that is the direction I will continue.

As to the opposition colleagues, we are all elected to do our jobs. You have my utmost respect and all members of Parliament who know me, know me in that manner. That's the way I operate and always have operated, and those are the values I purport to have as an individual and that have been instilled in me by my parents.

The co-founders of this consortium are Rick Jamieson, president and CEO of FTI Professional Grade and ABS Friction; Paul L'Heureux, CEO of Crystal Fountains; and Scott Shawyer, president and CEO of JPM Solutions.

Rick Jamieson, the president and CEO, is a Conservative. He supported Peter MacKay's failed leadership bid and donated $450 to the Conservatives in the past year. Will Mr. Jamieson be dragged down to this committee—even though he is a long-time Conservative supporter—because he engaged in helping Canadians in this crisis and teamed up with Baylis Medical, one of the most respected companies in its field?

Let's take a brief look at others who have been awarded contracts for needed supplies:

In March 2020, Canada's Thornhill Medical, a leading innovator in medical technologies, is proud to have joined the national effort to fight COVID-19. The Toronto-based company, founded by researchers and engineers originally from Toronto's University Health Network, has received a letter...from the Canadian federal government as part of Canada's new plan to mobilize industry to fight COVID-19.

Thornhill Medical is ramping up production of its groundbreaking, proprietary MOVES SLC portable life support and ventilator unit which will support hospitals and health care facilities across the country to deliver much-needed life-saving treatment to patients requiring urgent care.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Federal Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry Navdeep Bains have each cited Thornhill Medical as one of the companies working hard in the fight against COVID-19.

“We are honoured to join the effort to help save lives in these unprecedented circumstances,” explained Thornhill Medical CEO Lesley Gouldie. “Thornhill's purpose is to produce the best leading-edge medical equipment to save lives, and we are proud to take part in the Canadian government's fight against COVID-19.”

To follow the logic of the motion, or one of the components of the motion before the committee, the fact that Thornhill Medical director Wen Chen made donations totalling $2,300 to the Conservatives should perhaps cause them to be examined here.

I don't think so, Mr. Chair.

[Charlie Angus, NDP, Timmins—James Bay, ON]

I have a point of order, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Sweet]

Yes, Mr. Angus. What is your point of order?

[Charlie Angus, NDP, Timmins—James Bay, ON]

We are seeing that the Liberals are blocking us from doing our work. They have filibustered, but they are using a filibuster now to do propaganda and denying us the right to have witnesses. If Mr. Baylis' company is so fantastic then they should stop these games and bring the witnesses so we can deal with it.

They're obstructing the work of Parliament and treating this as a mockery. We should not have hearings run by Liberal press releases. We have the right to witnesses. We have wasted almost a month of time with these shenanigans from the Liberals.

Propaganda statements and press releases that are obstructing our work are not germane to what we need to do. We need to get to a vote. If the Liberals want to vote to bring Baylis, then let's get to the vote.

[Francesco Sorbara, Liberal, Vaughan—Woodbridge, ON]

Chair, can I continue on now?

[The Chair, Conservative, David Sweet]

Yes, please continue, Mr. Sorbara.

[Francesco Sorbara, Liberal, Vaughan—Woodbridge, ON]

Thank you very much, Chair.

Again, thank you to Member of Parliament Angus for his intervention.

I just want to repeat this last sentence before I continue to the next paragraph. I've jotted down a few notes on the political expedition or fishing trip, or the order of the day, it seems, for the opposition.

CAE Inc.'s Michael Fortier is a former CPC senator and minister of PWGSC. His company, CAE Inc., received a contract for ventilators for some $282.5 million. Again, I ask the committee, does this mean this committee should drag Mr. Fortier and his company before us? I believe, Mr. Chair, the answer is no. I would suggest not, because that would be, I think, in my humble opinion, abuse of the committee's power.

Now take a look at Medicom's Shawn Fried, director of business development, former chief of staff to the CPC minister of state for finance. In August, Medicom entered into a contract with the Government of Canada valued at $382 million over a 10-year term. Medicom is focused primarily on making N95 respirators and other key PPE items. Mr. Fried, however, has donated multiple times over the past several years.

Mr. Chair, there is no issue, and I encourage Canadians to participate in the political process in whatever manner they wish to do so, and are able to do so, whether it's volunteering their time or making donations to political parties. I encourage them considerably.

Mr. Fried has donated multiple times over the past several years: $1,200 in 2013, $1,000 in 2012, $1,100 in 2011, $500 in 2010, $1,100 in 2009, $1,820 in 2008. Colleagues, should we have this individual come before us to talk about his contracts and his past involvement with the Conservative Party of Canada? How appropriate would that be to have him here? The fact is it would not be appropriate at all. In fact, it would be inappropriate.

However, I do not think this concept has sunk in for my colleagues across the aisle yet, so I'm going to continue on with a few more examples because I think this context is very important for FTI and for Baylis Medical.

[Michael Barrett, Conservative, Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes, ON]

A point of order, Chair.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Sweet]

Go ahead, Mr. Barrett.

[Michael Barrett, Conservative, Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes, ON]

Chair, the member has said that bringing Canadians before this committee and discussing their relationship with the government would jeopardize their privacy, their corporate interests, their reputation, and yet he continues to bring up names of individuals because of their affiliation, or reported affiliation, with the Conservative Party. He is effectively looking to smear them in hopes he will wear out the opposition, and somehow, by saying the names of Conservatives, we'll be convinced to not call these witnesses.

If the member has the courage of his convictions, Chair, I would ask, through you, that he stop those tactics and vote on the motion to call the individuals named based on the reasons stated in the motion.